Hyderabad: Cancer survivors defy odds

Hyderabad: Geetha Ramasubramanian, a 64-year-old educationist, cancer survivor and author of 'To Rise above the Crab,' says cancer is an invasive and a painful condition. It needs a superhuman strength, mentally and physically to successfully face the side-effects of chemotherapy and radiation. More than the efforts of the patients, it is the care, love and patience of the attendants or the caregivers that are of utmost importance to accelerate the process of healing.

Her husband Kanan was also diagnosed with colon cancer in 2007. However, they never lost their hope for living and always had strong will power. Another cancer survivor Pushpavathy, a 65-year-old, who was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2019, opines, "it is very important for the patient to have a positive thought. One has to always stay positive and have strong will power. No matter how difficult the situation is one has to fight in order to survive and never ignore any symptoms."

"My family has supported me from the day I got to know that I was diagnosed with cancer. At times, even I broke down and started getting negative thoughts about it but I knew that it's going to go way long and I have to face it at least for my family," she added further.

Never neglect health

"Though I was an educationalist, I ignored the symptoms like extreme fatigue, loss of appetite, swollen belly, and eyes, gradual inability to even swallow water. When I visited a consultant, they told me that I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer stage 1," says Geetha.

She further said, "It is very important for a person to have strong will power. Caregivers equally suffer and one should not ignore the trauma that they are growing through and support them. One should never isolate the person suffering from Cancer. It is important to cheer them up. There should be proper awareness about cancer.

Dr P Vijay Karan Reddy, Consultant Oncologist, Apollo Cancer Institute, Hyderabad, said, "It is very important for both the patients and the caregivers to have positive thinking and to be strong when it comes to cancer. Cancer can be diagnosed and can be prevented with early diagnosis of it. Also, there should be more awareness about cancer. We also assure the patients that along with them we are also going to take every possible step to beat cancer."

WORRYING TRENDS

As per the National Cancer Registry Programme (NCRP) of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the highest number of cancer cases from 2014-2018 were registered in Uttar Pradesh and Telangana had the least number of cases among the Top 6 states